A Mask Between Us
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Sometimes Cat Noir wonders how they've gotten here, and sometimes he just wishes for her to go on a date with him and maybe kiss him. *Oneshot collection written for MariChat May.*
1. No Powers

Technically, he had no powers, since he only played a superhero in the school play, but since his name was not listed on the sheet, he figured that having a secret identity made all the difference. He was Cat Noir as much as that would probably make his best friends laugh, and so Adrien was no longer who he'd been before. Gabriel Agreste had no idea, or else, he wouldn't be able to participate, and Theater always looked so fun.

"Kitty, do you want to practice your lines for a bit?" And, that was the other reason that he was here. Marinette was the head of the Theater club, beyond just being the designer of all of the costumes. She'd been promoted about a year or so ago, and Adrien was worried that she wouldn't even give him a second glance if he joined as Adrien, on top of how grounded he would be, if he had 'officially' joined.

"Yeah, purrsonally I sure could use some mewr practice." Adrien felt a smile drip on to his face; he loved being able to play a cat themed superhero, even though he knew that he might be overdoing the puns just a little bit. He rarely got to come up with puns elsewhere, anyway.

"Really, now?" She rolled her eyes, but Adrien already wondered if he spoke just eloquently enough, if she'd let him take her out on a date and that he'd be able to kiss her by the end of it.

"Defurnitely." He smiled, letting the role wash over him once more.

"Okay, drop some of the puns. It's time to go." Marinette moved into position, skirt swishing with her, and she led him through a scene that he was still struggling to memorize the lines for.

* * *

"So we can't have a love scene, because our writer refuses to make one despite what the director says?" Adrien was sitting down, cardboard mask, sloppily done, barely resting over his face and in a dark outfit that was one of the ones that he changed into for Theater practice, knowing that as long as it was different than what he'd worn that day to class, no one should notice.

"Yeah." Marinette caught the strands of her hair that fell over her face when she looked over at him.

"I don't see why love scenes are all the rage, personally." Alya dropped near gracelessly down by them, "It's overrated, and our story is way better than that." She made sure to draw out and emphasize way, as if it wasn't already clear enough how invested she was in this project.

"It couldn't hurt it, and besides, more people will come to it, if it had at least a little romance." Nino answered her as he sat down next to his girlfriend.

"It could definitely hurt it." Alya reiterated, as she leaned just a little closer to Nino looking exhausted. "I should have been the main hero."  
"So, our dude here claimed it first. He already came a little prepared for it anyway, and Marinette makes a good hero. Did you know that she could do all those flips and stuff?" Nino responded, waving a hand in Adrien's direction, before he wrapped it around Alya's shoulders.

"It takes lots of practice." Marinette answered, humbly, as she moved to pull her hair into a long ponytail, already tired of how it dragged over her face of its own free will.

"You are really good, Marinette." Practice felt like it took forever, and he wasn't even entirely sure that a pun could come easy now, not that it likely wouldn't annoy her.

"Thank you." She glanced back over at Alya, "With some practice, you could probably due it too, but you make a really great reporter anyway."

"It's not hard when you practically do it in real life." Alya shook her head, "How's our superhero leads?"  
"Just fine." Marinette answered, and Adrien wondered if it was really so easy to wrap an arm around someone in a relaxed hug. It looked effortless for Nino, though Adrien of course knew that Nino and Alya were dating, and sadly, he had not managed to ask out Marinette. Yet. It was on his to do list, just as eventually telling his dad that he'd gotten involved in the Theater department was.

"I'm doing well. Theater is a lot of fun." Adrien liked it, even when he found it hard to focus, staring into pretty blue eyes, and even when he was beyond exhausted from long practices and even practicing for hours at home when he knew that both his father and Nathalie would not notice. He was not about to admit his secret Theater-identity to anyone, especially not them, though Nino knew.

Adrien wondered if his best bud had revealed this fact to Alya, or if he'd admitted that Adrien wanted to be set up with Alya's best friend yet. He kind of hoped not. It felt like too much to be shared.

"That's good to hear." Alya smiled.

Cat Noir would go on as male lead of the play for another day, and maybe the next one, he'd finally be able to tell his crush that he liked her or wooed her with his still rudimentary theater skills.


	2. Greek AU

Beautiful princesses were not always 'entertained,' nor were they immune to feeling lonely. Princess Marinette found that the passing of time was not unlike the waves of the sea that brushed up against the shore, constant, repetitive, boring, and lonely. What love was there in crashing waves and easy to imagine days? It became to the point where even beauty meant nothing, as if the beauty of the waves were just an excuse to admire them.

Marinette sat down not far from the shore, counting the almost soothing, drumbeats of the ocean, as she witnessed a ship press against the shore and met green eyes that stunned her into quietness that had little to do with reflection or boredom, but more something gentler.

She stood on semi-shaky legs and admired how the man confidently left his boat, moving alongside the shore, until stunned appreciation faded into a need to reply. He came towards her, "Where did we end up?" His question though quick did not leave her feeling discarded, somehow it tempted her to speak.

"You've landed at Rhodope in Thrace." Princess Marinette answered, letting the words find their way to his ears.

"Could I speak with the king by any chance?" She smiled up at him, pretending that the butterflies had more to do with him asking to speak to her father than it did with the fact that he was still talking to her.

"Sure, my father's this way." King Tom was a kindly king, and Marinette admired how he led his kingdom so well. He may have been only a local king and therefore not so famous, but she still found that she liked how well he took care of the kingdom and the fact that even now he wasn't yet pressuring her into getting married, as she'd always detected the kind of loneliness around here as if it clinged to the very place that she'd always called home. Marinette would claim that it was just a tiny desire to meet someone from elsewhere, but she'd never truly expected to be dazed by one such foreigner.

Marinette led the way, following sandy paths to smooth grass, and when she found her home, the palace still seemed to shine with a kind of life of its own. The blond haired man that had ended up basically shipwrecked seemed to find the path through the palace less confusing, and Marinette wondered not for the first time if palaces were set up mostly the same together.

Naturally, when he made it to her father's throne room, she left him to talk with him as she'd been taught to, not expecting anything out of the ordinary despite the surge of attraction that she felt for this blond haired stranger.

* * *

In a few weeks' time, she ended up marrying him. His name was Adrien, and he was the heir to Athens. He'd fought in the Trojan War, and that was where he'd been leaving from on his way back home to Athens when he was shipwrecked near her small kingdom.

For a time, everything seemed perfect. Her loneliness had abated almost entirely, and Adrien made good company whether they were just walking outside together or talking, and they could talk for hours. It seemed perfect, and Marinette should have known that perfection never seemed to last in her life.

Sometimes he made her laugh, and at other times, with just his hand in hers and guiding her along, she half-thought that the stars at night were secretly comprised of the green of his eyes, if not the warmth of his touch. She wasn't near as lonely as she'd been before, and while Adrien spoke highly and often of Athens, she never expected this newly wed feeling to become subdued under things that would seem more pressing in an instant. They didn't even discuss the fact that he was technically still a king of another place as well.

Hours became days, and days seemed short, when he admitted to really missing Athens and wanting to spend just a little bit of time there. "I'm the King of Athens, and it has been my home for so long. I'm sure that they'll need me, but it won't take longer than six months, and then I'll be back to you." Adrien was practically bouncing in his urgency, and Marinette hated to see how disappointed her husband would be if he didn't get a chance to go return to his first home before coming back to her.

"Okay, but wait a moment." Marinette stood up, moving to retrieve a parting gift, "If you are sure that you can't come back to me again, open this up." She handed her husband a coffin, "But otherwise, just keep it closed. Please come back in six months." She stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. Marinette knew that he'd keep his promise to her, as he couldn't forget a love like this, could he? There was something electric about just being with him, and she savored every second with her husband.

"I will be back in six months, and I'll bring back the coffin." His words were soft, but genuine and so Marinette pulled him close. It wouldn't be long before they'd walk to where they met, and she'd give him a goodbye kiss, knowing that maybe it would make it all seem so much quicker for him to return. She isn't quite sure what leaving your home to fight in war and leaving your home for an extended stay elsewhere was like, but it had to be tough.

* * *

Days became months, and with each passing one, the loneliness that had been disappearing came back full force. Suddenly, the waves felt like they ahd what she couldn't have. The shore wasn't able to up and leave them for 'home,' when home should be somewhere else now.

Her husband seemed gone forever, as she made her way back to the spot where they'd met, half expecting him to come home early, until six months rolled around.

The air held no promise either good or bad, and she was up early that day. Marinette moved quickly in the pre-Dawn light and found herself right by where he was supposed to be arriving, but when it dragged on by an hour, she counted herself far too early. She retreated back home for a breakfast that she really couldn't focus to eat.

Shortly after, with the sun fully up, she returned to the spot. Feet moving quick, only to be disappointed after a half an hour that he still hadn't come. She just wanted to see her husband again. Marinette went back home, only to be back in the next half an hour, then the next, then the next, and then back again after lunch. She returned an hour after lunch, to two hours after lunch, and fianlly arrived for the ninth and last time after dinner.

She sat distractedly, running through thoughts like you wouldn't believe. Picturing her husband, imagining that he was there again, and just wishing for him to be back though she'd grown weary from the wait.

Princess Marinette fell asleep, imagining through her dreams that her husband had returned and would bring her home with him to Athens, though she hated to leave her father's house, she dreaded the idea of six more long months of pure loneliness. She loved him, or at least she'd married him as her loneliness had begun to fade and out of an attraction so strong. She almost imagined it weak now.

* * *

The next morning, and King Adrien had still not arrived. She knew that he would have picked her up and carried her home again, as if she were merely sleeping there in wait of going home with her husband that would have been gone only a night. Marinette liked the makebelieve, because it made her feel just a tad less lonely.

She eyed the bare trees from the Winter cold, and finally, she knew just what she'd do. The loneliness left cold trails along her heart, and either Adrien lied to her or he wasn't coming home. Marinette just hoped that her parents would not be left hurting quite so badly from all of this, when the thought finally occurred to her.

* * *

Everything had seemed to stop him on his way back home to his wife, as if royal responsibilites took precedence over a promise. King Adrien of Athens was so late, it had been a terribly cold Winter so far, and he knew the importance of hurrying home to loved ones or at least he thought he did.

Where he'd promised to meet his wife was a tree, tall and pretty, and certainly trees didn't grow up that fast in a little more than six months. Adrien knew that without a doubt, it had to be her: the beautiful princess that he'd fallen in love with and married.

Adrien came closer, stepping near enough to see the exact shading of the bark, and he reached out to press a hand gingerly against her, watching beautiful pink and white flowers bloom even though it was still Winter. The first Almond Tree bloomed; blossoms fluttering to life at his touch.

She was beautiful, whether she was a tree or a woman. "Marinette, please forgive me." Adrien wrapped his arms around the bark, wishing for another moment longer that he had never left. Marinette had never really seemed to open up about her loneliness, and yet maybe he'd been deaf to her pleas for him to stay, for him to understand what it's like, and now he felt the impossibility of the situation.

Just as his tears fell and his grip remained steady in that sturdy embrace, something warmer and softer than tree bark was in his arms. As he looked up, he met gorgeous blue eyes, and he realized that Marinette was no longer dead and stuck in the form of a tree, but she was alive and hugging him back.

"I forgive you." She murmured softly in his ear, "I love you."

Somehow it felt like the ending of the story that Adrien wasn't sure that he deserved, but Marinette, his Phyllis, to her Demophon, Adrien, had made this into something sweet enough to soothe some of the ache of abandonment and loneliness. Hopefully, they'd be able to cling to each other and not distance themselves to a devastating degree once again.


	3. Kittens

Honestly, Cat was so cute. Marinette paused from putting away the dishes that were in the dishwasher to watch her husband, transformed, of course, playing with their three so far kids. It was relatively familiar every now and again, because sometimes Adrien just wanted to play more as Cat Noir than as Adrien.

"Daddy Cat! Daddy Cat! Daddy Cat!" Emma, Louis, and Hugo cried out, and it was a wonder that they had yet to know that their dad was also Cat Noir. They weren't really the best at keeping these kinds of secrets from their children, though Marinette knows that by the time they turn five, they will need to be weaned off of seeing 'Daddy Cat,' and 'Momma Bug,' until they are old enough to realize the importance of keeping those kinds of secrets and the actual identity of Momma Bug and Daddy Cat.

"Yes?" Cat Noir smiled, "What do mew want?"

Marinette laughed, and it was easy to see in their own carefree ways how their first three kids were technically their kittens. She found it much lighter, much freer, to laugh, rather than to sit there and contemplate whether anything that was spoken was actually funny or not.

"We want to play!" They chanted.

"Okay, which one of you is the baby kitten?" It didn't matter that the three of them were all wearing original Cat Noir based onesies designed by their mother, one of them had to be the youngest kitten.

"Me." Emma pouted, with a small, adorable smile. She was the youngest, technically, and she loved being the baby kitten that had to be looked out for. Little Emma thrived on the attention, and sometimes Marinette found herself thinking that Emma was definitely her father's daughter. She was just like him in that regard.

"Alright, are you her big brothers?" Cat Noir asked both of his sons.

"No," Louis exclaimed out of the blue, bouncing with excitement, "I'm a lonely kitten in a box, and I just want to meet my daddy and my sister and my brother."

Hugo nodded, "I'm her brother, but I kind of want to be box kitten." He paused to give his father a pleading look.

Marinette just shook her head; all four of her kittens were just adorable, and that was before she'd counted her baby kitty in her belly. Cat Noir was the biggest and fluffiest kitten of them all anyway. She stole another yet another look at her husband; he was definitely her biggest kitten, her 'Kitty.'


	4. Birthday

Hands down, it's way different to throw the girl you like a birthday party. Everything had to be perfect, because Cat Noir was not going to do this halfway, and though he certainly didn't get all that many chances to have birthday parties before, a private one couldn't be any less than perfect. Already he was practically knees deep in pink ribbon as he carefully tied it onto the railing as he wasn't willing to detransform just to get it done as someone other than Cat Noir.

The birthday banner was next in its pretty and bright colors. "Happy Birthday." Already, he was standing on tiptoes to hang it up high enough. Just, what if she walked onto her balcony, because she saw him or heard him? Oh, the Birthday Cake! He practically cursed his luck, though he knew that she was a baker's daughter, and that he could have let them bake the cake or something along those lines, but they always made sweets, and he wanted to surprise her with something nice for once.

Admittingly, he doubted that anything could be as good as her family's baking, but at least, this gives them a little bit of a break and having them make two birthday cakes for their daughter was a bit much, anyway. As for right now, Cat Noir couldn't actually bake, so he'd had to order it. He paused as he stepped back to admire the banner and the ribbon, and hoped that she didn't see this before, he came back. Carefully, he placed her gifts down on the lawn chairs, before he took off at a quick sprint in order to go pick up her birthday cake and the ice cream. He hadn't bought that yet, because he didn't want it to melt while he set everything up.

Nerves seemed to flutter to life in his stomach as he quickly detransformed to buy the cake and ice cream. Cat Noir would cause too much of a scene, and he wasn't eager for a birthday party to end or be revealed too soon, because he'd dashed off to buy the cake and ice cream while suited up. Already, he felt like he should be back on her balcony by now, and felt all of his nerves attack him at once.

What if his inexperience at birthday parties made this an absolutely awful celebration or she didn't like the cake or the gifts or she thought he was being over the top. Cat Noir was just making it back onto her balcony when he saw her standing there, surprised by all of this. He smiled as he hoped down to join her.

"I heard that it was your birthday today." He shrugged, unsure of what else to tell her. "Happy Birthday, Princess."

Marinette smiled, "Thank you." Thankfully, she hadn't tell him that this was too much at all. She was admiring his decorating with a smile on her face, and that warmth inside his heart seemed to pick up its degrees a few notches just to really be felt. He knew that with careful planning and quiet 'ease' he could make some kind of birthday party that might leave her in awe or at least a little happy and feeling appreciated.

"No problem." He shrugged, "So, I know that this birthday cake won't be as good as your parents' baking is, but I bought you one anyway." He longed to one day bake her one, but first he needed to learn how to bake, preferably by her family teaching him, and hopefully it could be something he could do for her if they get married. He might have spent a lot of time thinking about this, perhaps more than he ought to, when they aren't even dating.

"I'm sure it will be good." Marinette smiled as she sat down, and just the delicate upturn of her lips reminded him that she was fine with it, because it was another gift for her, in its own little way.

"I hope so." Cat Noir sat down right next to her and pulled the cake over, realizing belatedly that he'd need to ask her to borrow a knife to cut the cake and an ice cream scoop and even plates. Whoops, he'd forgotten the necessity of all three of those things. "Oh, do you have a knife, an ice cream scoop, and plates?" He felt the embarrassment crawl up his neck in a vivid blush. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten those.

"We do." Marinette stood up and left to go back into her house and pull out just the types of utensils that they needed. Cat Noir really hoped she didn't mind that he'd forgotten those three necessities. Surely, since that slowed the celebration down, that probably wasn't the best thing that he could have done?

"Thank you." Marinette answered him as she sat down by him again, "This is wonderful." Marinette had not been expecting all of this and thus was left nearly entirely in awe of the thoughtfulness that this entailed. To remember a friend's birthday on the day of, but especially to have planned for it beforehand and to show up and surprise her with a birthday party catered just to her? It was so sweet, that her heart swelled in the love and warmth that she felt.

Cat Noir answered her back with a gentle smile, as shy as it appeared, "I'm sorry that I forgot those." He gestured to just what she'd grabbed.

"That's okay." Marinette leaned against his side and the next two hours were spent enjoying birthday cake and ice cream, unwrapping her gifts, and playing Ultimate Mecha Strike Three, until finally it grew late, and they both were too exhausted to maintain a longer party. Awe still filled up Marinette's heart even after Cat Noir left, and his heart was equally full of warmth.


End file.
